Petnah Community Empowerment Initiative was started by Petnah Africa Tours & Travel Limited

Petnah Africa Tours & Travel limited is a private company in Uganda started in 2019 and it has been operating for 4 years now, Petnah Africa Tours & Travel offers safaris and tours to all the protected areas in Uganda such as Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park among others.

Project Background.

Through safaris and tours offered by Petnah Africa Tours & Travel, guests are offered a visit to the local communities around Uganda’s protected areas. Through these visits, the need to support the local people in various ways was realized by our team.

The local people living around the protected areas of Uganda (national parks and reserves) depend on these areas for survival and livelihood, the locals work as guides and offer other services through which they earn a living. When the world was hit by the global pandemic of COVID-19, these locals were affected more as they could no longer earn income to support themselves.

As indicated in the revenue sharing scheme established in 1995 through which 20 per cent of the park’s revenue being shared with local communities, it was no longer possible as the parks were closed and tourism was put on hold. So Petnah Tours & Travel started the Petnah Community Empowerment Initiative to support the locals in various ways to better their livelihoods, however it was done on a small scale.

To support the local communities, Petnah Africa Tours and Travel started an initiative of putting 10% of the funds from each confirmed trip to purchase basic needs for the local communities. Some of the communities which have benefited from this initiative include local communities around Bwindi impenetrable national park’s Nkuringo and Rushaga sectors.

Petnah Community Empowerment Initiative has supported these local communities through providing scholastic materials such as books, shoes, pens, bags, clothes, food, financial help through tips and sensitizing projects about education and health issues such as immunization, vaccinating the local people against COVID.